Funerary Practices of the British Beaker Peoples: An Osteo-Archaeological Assessment of Individuals

公元前3千年中期，伴随“烧杯情结”在西欧的传播而来的文化转型，一直是欧洲史前长期变化叙事的核心，并继续吸引着关于其起源、传播和特征的激烈辩论（Vander Linden 2013）。烧杯文化证据已经从不同区域重点的一系列角度进行了研究，但一个共同的线索是太平间数据对探索社会类别，仪式和人口统计学的意义（例如Fitzpatrick 2011）。同位素和遗传分析方面的最新科学进展重新将注意力集中在移民上，作为解释“烧杯现象”的一种方式（Olalde等人2018；Parker Pearson等人2019；Armit & Reich 2021）。这个项目将通过回答有关身体处理和埋藏的关键问题，显著地推进我们对烧杯殡葬实践的理解。由于完善的研究框架，英国的证据对于这一目的是理想的（例如Clarke 1970； Allen等人编著）。2012年)，40年来资源丰富的商业发掘，以及最近大规模的放射性碳定年和同位素研究（Parker Pearson et al. 2019）。英国的烧杯葬礼传统也因其悠久的历史（公元前2450-1850年：ibid.; Needham 2005）和在烧杯社会生活中殡葬实践的突出地位而闻名，最近人们认识到广泛的死后尸体处理，包括切断关节（Booth & Bruck 2020），骨灰（Booth et al. 2020）和木乃伊化（Pearson et al. 2005; Booth et al. 2015）。为了深入了解烧杯传统的社会习俗，M4C的提案旨在确定：(i)基于年龄或性别的社会待遇；（ii）未研究人群中死后治疗的流行程度和类型；（iii） Micro-CT （MCT）在稀有/易碎材料调查中的适用性。为了确定烧杯尸体的特征和死后操纵的程度，至少40个人将接受密集的骨学，背景和组织学分析。这将包括比较研究：(i)出版物和现场记录中的沉积资料；（ii）骨骼材料检查所得的生物特征数据（年龄、性别、创伤）；（iii）基于骨样本MCT扫描的微成岩数据量化，使用Oxford组织学指数（Hedges et al. 1995）建立身体完整性和分解过程（White & Booth 2014）。这些样本保存在许多博物馆和商业考古档案馆中，其中一些已经得到了坎特伯雷考古信托基金、萨尼特考古信托基金和威塞克斯考古基金的批准。这个项目将在两个研究领域产生重大影响。(1)这是欧洲第一次大规模的基于mct的烧杯墓葬研究，也是对英国早期青铜器时代太平间人口进行的最大的成岩评估。这项工作的结果将为澄清死后操纵的形式和频率及其对理解烧杯殡葬仪式和身体概念的意义提供新的基础。(2)这项研究的发现也将有助于我们更广泛地理解古代人骨的微成岩作用，以及生物考古和法医专家使用MicroCT扫描的方法和解释挑战。

The cultural transformations that accompanied the spread of the 'Beaker complex' across western Europe in the mid-3rd millennium BC have been central to narratives of long-term change in European prehistory, and continue to attract intense debates concerning their origins, diffusion and character (Vander Linden 2013). Beaker culture evidence has been studied from a range of perspectives with varying regional emphases, but a common thread is the significance of mortuary data for exploring social categories, ritual and demography (e.g. Fitzpatrick 2011). Recent scientific advances in isotopic and genetic analyses have refocused attention on migration as a way to explain the 'Beaker phenomenon' (Olalde et al. 2018; Parker Pearson et al. 2019; Armit & Reich 2021).This project will significantly advance our understanding of Beaker mortuary practices by answering key questions relating to body treatment and taphonomy. The British evidence is ideal for this purpose due to well-established frameworks of study (e.g. Clarke 1970; Allen et al. (eds.) 2012), 40 years' of well resourced commercial excavations, and recent large-scale radiocarbon dating and isotopic research (Parker Pearson et al. 2019). The British Beaker funerary tradition is also exceptional for its longevity (c.2450-1850 BC: ibid.; Needham 2005) and the prominence of mortuary practices in Beaker social lives, highlighted recently by recognition of widespread post-mortem body manipulation, includingdisarticulation (Booth & Bruck 2020), excarnation (Booth et al. 2020), and mummification (Pearson et al. 2005; Booth et al. 2015).To gain insight into the social customs of the Beaker tradition, this M4C proposal aims to determine: (i) social treatments based on age or sex; (ii) the prevalence and types of post-mortem treatments in an unstudied population; (iii) applicability of Micro-CT (MCT) during the investigation of rare/fragile materials.To determine the character and extent of post-mortem manipulation of Beaker bodies, at least 40 individuals will be subject to intensive osteological, contextual and histotaphonomic analysis. This will involve comparative study of: (i) depositional data in publications and site records; (ii) biometric data (age, sex, trauma) derived from examinations of skeletal material; (iii) quantification of micro-diagenetic data based on MCT scans of bone samples, using the Oxford Histological Index (Hedges et al. 1995) to establish body intactness and decompositional processes (White & Booth 2014). The samples are housed in numerous museums and commercial archaeology archives, access to some of which has already beenapproved by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Trust for Thanet Archaeology and Wessex Archaeology.This project will have major impacts in two areas of research. (1) This is the first large-scale MCT-based study of Beaker burials in Europe, and the largest diagenetic assessment of a British Early Bronze Age mortuary population. The results of this work will provide a new basis for clarifying forms and frequency of post-mortem manipulation and its significance for understanding Beaker mortuary ritual and conceptions of the body. (2) The findings of the study will also contribute to our understanding of microdiagenesis in ancient human bone more generally, and the methodological and interpretative challenges of using MicroCT scanning for both bioarchaeological and forensic specialists.